Hotel Ajanta Continental Dehradun

Diwali in Dehradun is the best!  My idea of Quintessential Indian diwali celebrations. Lots of taash and fabulous food at friends, homes.  

My cousin's place in Dehradun is set in the hills in Dehradun, and you can see Masoorie in the distance.  The garden is beautifully lit up with Diyas and the house is decorated with flowers in every room. Its stunning and I find a lot of peace whenever I visit.

... I also trekked
through some short cut paths instead of using cemented up hill route all the
distance of 1.5 kms. A few resting places have been added with the provision of
shops vending snacks, tea, water, Prasad, temple lockets, books, mementoes etc.
12.45 PM : Just
before reaching hill top, while negotiating a short cut climb, I ...

... the power off, so an attendant lit six candles in front of the stage and the show continued. It was so surreal-- they played into the night and we laid on the floor drifting in and out of sleep, listening to this far out sitar music for like three hours. We saw a lot of nature during our week in Rishikesh as well. Our Lonely Planet guide had a very vague description of a small path to a waterfall that we decided to pursue one of our first days there. We had no luck, but the tiny ...

So, one of the many cleanses/purifications recommended by my yoga school is the Brown Rice Diet. Now, I have heard of this back in the real world and have always been somewhat interested in trying it. I figured eating only brown rice might give my poor digestive system a break and perhaps enable it to better handle foods in the future. However, who can ever think of a time when they can only eat brwon rice for ten days? There was never a 10 day period in my day to day NYC ...

Hi Everyone, I am back from the Vipassana Retreat in Dehradun...very happy I did it, and also glad that I was flying blind when I decided to go. I might not have done it if I knew more about the retreat itself and the facility at which it was held. But the core practice is exactly what this 62 year old woman needs to rein in her wild, untamed, often torturous mind. I have never felt more hopeful of actually being able to do that now that I have this practice. I highly recommend ...

... Sivananda did intensely focused meditation and tapas (sacrifice to God) for 10 straight years. The energy of the Kutir is so palpably deep that going into meditation ...even for MY restless, anxious mind ... has never been easier. Just breathing into the energy that is already there all around me carries me away to quiet ecstasy or unspeakably deep stillness. Sivananda must have been a very great master, indeed to be able to charge the air and ground with this ...

... fear of god, vishnu and all the deities ever worshipped took a firm hold of me. It didn´t help that a Spanish girl had already been up there trembling with terror for 15 minutes and was praying loudly......not something to inspire confidence. I peered over, dithered, stared at the sky, listened to the pounding of my heart in my chest while a sucession of people walked up and jumped. Thankfully there were a few others questioning the wisdom of this as well........but having come ...

... could see passing from the open doors, and then night decended and the train ran through the blackness of night, only emphasising the speed at which we were going, and my fears that Indias rail infrastructure could not possibly cope with such speeds. But it could, and I arrived safely in Harawad (sp) and quickly found a tuk-tuk to Rissikesh, then quickly found a nice hostel. The views from my romo the next day were of the Ganges, or Ganga, with forested hills ...

... Haridwar after I finish making the film. Later on, I had some chow mein on the side of the road by the monastery for 16 rs and bought some water, lemons, ginger, and honey to make some of my favorite tea. I played some net-less badminton with the 10-year-old daughter of the family after the dad got tired of it and showed them some of my art and photos. They also showed me some photos from their trip to Badrinath and the Valley of Flowers, and Mrs. Dwarkada invited ...

Today we visited the Insitute for the Visually Impaired. Mari asked the questions "What's wrong with the word blind?" and we discussed ways in which his might be insensitive, but also that the Texas School for the Blind is called such. So we arrived at no definite answer to her questions. I found the Institute fascinating, what with my interest in the lesser-used senses. We saw Braille being typed by two blind secretaries as a ...